


Nancy Drew and the Mystery Date

by bettycooper



Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29417229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettycooper/pseuds/bettycooper
Summary: Bess promised Lisbeth a group date, and who is Nancy Drew to stand in the way of love (and getting her morning shifts covered for a whole month)? Nancy can get through one blind date for her friends, right?But is everyone just running late, or is there more to the story?
Relationships: Ace/Nancy Drew
Comments: 7
Kudos: 80





	Nancy Drew and the Mystery Date

There was not a mystery in Horseshoe Bay that Nancy Drew couldn’t solve. Whether it was a supernatural foe or just your average human doing terrible things, Nancy had always had a knack for putting the pieces together to solve the most insane of puzzles.

But as she stood in the Claw that night, waiting for her friends to arrive, she couldn’t help but feel like she’d missed something major.

It had taken weeks of convincing for Nancy to say yes to Bess’ proposal, the promise made to Lisbeth for a big group date coming to fruition only because Bess had made Nancy an offer she simply could not refuse.

The only thing Nancy liked less than closing duties were opening ones, and Bess had offered an entire month’s worth of opening coverage in exchange for one blind date. Nancy had been about a week away from acquiescing on her own (who was she to make Bess’ love life harder than it already was in their post-Aglaeca world?), but she appreciated the incentive.

And so, she’d agreed, curiosity building as she’d prepared herself to meet whoever Bess had declared brave enough to go toe-to-toe for an evening with the one and only Nancy Drew. She’d taken extra time to lightly curl her hair, had managed an appropriate amount of barely-there makeup, and had tossed on a nice sweater and jeans combo that would ensure she was comfortable no matter the intended destination of the evening. Not even noted fashionista Bess Marvin would find a fault in her choices… probably.

But there she was, hanging out entirely alone in the absolutely deserted restaurant a full five minutes after they’d all been instructed to meet. And things felt… off.

Shooting off a quick text to check in with the group, alarm bells went off for the girl as soon as she heard the distinct vibration of a received text message coming from nearby. Like… within her immediate vicinity nearby.

“Hello?” she called out, walking towards where she was positive the sound had come from. But though she was able to quickly spot what she knew to be Ace’s phone, there was no hint as to the location of Ace himself.

“Ace?” Nancy tried again, speaking louder as she grabbed his phone and headed towards the kitchen. The odds that all of her friends had been kidnapped (or worse) were actually pretty low, given their present lack of a supernatural enemy… but in the back of her mind the fear was sort of always there, and that very moment was no exception.

It wasn’t until she saw the male’s head pop up from the door to the (happily reclaimed post-Aglaeca) freezer that she began to feel any sense of relief.

“Bess here?” he asked, stepping fully out of the cold but not yet over to her.

“Nope,” she answered with a shrug, holding out his phone as an incentive to get him out of his happy space. “George and Nick are also presently unaccounted for. As are our dates, who I can only assume will be Gil and Amanda.”

“A solid guess,” the male nodded, grabbing his phone from her… and what seemed to be a surprisingly fresh set of fries from the counter. Her powers of observation had decided to go on vacation that evening, apparently, because she’d missed those entirely.

“Fries until they turn up?” he offered, clearly aware of the fact that her eyes had zeroed in on the food.

_Why not?_

Nodding, she followed Ace to the bar, observing him as he scrolled through his phone and ate fry after fry. It had to have been a solid two minutes of just watching, but Nancy was only sort of looking after a while. In reality, she was working through a thought.

Eye contact coming seconds later, Nancy wasn’t sure where she was going with her words until they were out. She was certain she was right, though, and so she spoke with confidence.

“I think we’ve been ditched.”

Definitely not an anticipated outcome for the night, but there was no way around it. Fifteen-minute rule. If no one shows up, you get to leave. It wasn’t like traffic was really a problem in Horseshoe Bay…

“Bess has been talking to Lisbeth about tonight for weeks. I don’t think so,” was all Ace offered in response, another fry chasing his words. “You look nice, though. I’m sure Bess’ll appreciate the full participation.”

Popping in a fry of her own, Nancy flipped a stool over so she could sit herself next to the basket, offering a gracious smile as her response to the compliment.

“You too. I guess blue sweaters just scream blind date material,” she acknowledged, gesturing to their very different but still in the same family hues. “I repeat, though… the blind date is probably not happening at this point. We have been stood up.”

“By six people in one night? Bummer,” he was quick to say, his tone in conflict with the words. It was clear that they were on opposing sides of the ‘stood up’ debate, and though she knew he was wrong, she wasn’t about to fight him on it more.

No, instead it was her turn to stare at her phone and eat fry after fry, waiting for her confirmation to come via a text message so that she could call it a night and head home.

“How’s your dad?” she heard as she was mid-consideration of becoming a triple texter. And though she hadn’t been aware of it before, she was pretty sure that Ace had done some observing of his own before he’d dropped the question on her.

It wasn’t a question that she’d answer for just anyone, the Nancy Drew family tree already far more complex than most people were aware of. Ace had actually been the first of her friends to find out her parentage, and he’d kept his word about keeping it confidential until she shared it. But he’d also formed a weird but not awful bond with Carson… and had expanded the circle to include her _other_ dad on the great Ace/Carson/Ryan Road Trip of Aglaeca Fame. And now he was somehow on good terms with both of dads, which was more than Nancy could say some days. So… weirdly fair question.

“Complicated question,” she answered after a moment of thought, a rare hint of amusement coming to her face at the “Answer for either,” that came her way seconds later.

She wouldn’t consider the text from Bess that hit both of their phones at the same time a ‘saved by the bell’ moment, but it was nice to not have to put any serious thought into answering the question just quite yet. Instead, she got to claim her victory.

Or so she thought.

Glancing down at her phone, she was fully prepared to see an ‘omg so sorry had to cancel let’s raincheck’ text. Instead, she was mentally forced to admit that maybe Ace knew Bess a little better than she did.

> **BESS: running late!!** **😩 car trouble. thank god for lisbeth.**

“To be clear, we’re still the only ones here. So I wasn’t wrong,” Nancy felt the need to insist, relieved at Ace’s clear indication that he wasn’t about to debate her on it. She would allow him some satisfaction of being right, but she would not admit that she was wrong. Instead, they sat in a comfortable silence as they awaited further word from any member of their crew currently _not_ at the Claw.

> **NANCY: No worries. Nick and George? ETA?**
> 
> **BESS: they’re with us. real teamwork happening on this car thing.**
> 
> **BESS: is ace there?**
> 
> **NANCY: Yes.**
> 
> **ACE: Yup.**
> 
> **BESS: great!!! stay there!!**

“She’s up to something,” Ace was the first to say, but Nancy wasn’t far off from the thought. There was something decidedly off about the extreme usage of exclamation points. Even for Bess, five in one message was extreme.

And then it hit her.

Oh.

Wait.

_Bess!_

“Pretty sure I’ve solved this one,” Nancy acknowledged, the math having finally worked itself fully out in her mind.

No George or Nick, understandable given that Nick could help with the car thing. _If_ there was a real car thing. No Lisbeth or Bess, also excusable, see above. But it was twenty minutes past the original meeting time and the (2) blind dates were still not there? Neither of them?

> **NANCY: Hey, Bess? Where are our dates?**
> 
> **BESS: …**
> 
> **BESS: …**
> 
> **BESS:** **👀**
> 
> **BESS: …have fun!!!**

“Does a date count if you don’t know you’re on it?” Ace mused, and Nancy had to breathe a sigh of relief that the reveal hadn’t made things weird. But then again, why would it? They were friends. Just two friends with a mutual matchmaker. Just friends… right?

Glancing at Ace out of the corner of her eye, Nancy found herself already deep in analyzation mode. He was definitely closer to Bess… did she know something? Was this something that had happened because he’d given Bess some indication that he’d wanted it to? Did Ace _like_ her?

He was giving her zero clues as to an answer to any of her now-burning questions, but she was trying to keep her staring from being obvious, so she spoke up yet again.

“Just for the record, I was right about the being ditched thing. The car excuse was obviously fake.”

“It’s okay to say she outwitted us on this one. But I won’t tell her that we didn’t go along with it if you don’t.”

He was giving her a clear out, but now her mind was whirring. She didn’t know how Ace felt about her, but did she even know how she felt about Ace?

Ace who had downed what could have been an entire vial of poison because he trusted her. Ace who had protected her secrets and offered her a solid support to lean on, zero judgment. He had proved time and time again that he was there for her, and in the process he’d somehow gotten to know her better than anyone else. It was something she’d never allowed in any of her romantic relationships before – actually being known. And the very idea of that truly terrified her.

Did she find him attractive? Yes. Had he popped into her mind before she’d really gotten to know him as an eligible option for something casual? She would be lying if she didn’t say yes. Could she imagine her life without him? No. Was her life better because he was in it? Yes. Did he balance her in ways that she hadn’t been aware that she needed? …Perhaps.

But did that all equate to romance? And was she prepared to flip that switch in her brain again? After Owen? After things with Nick had fizzled like they had?

Nancy was getting ahead of herself with her thoughts, but… on paper, it made sense. So, was a run in actuality ever going to see the light of day?

“You’re giving off big ‘trying to put together the puzzle without all of the pieces’ vibes right now. Fresh fries for the thought journey?” Ace asked, breaking the trance she’d been stuck in from his last question but not banishing the thoughts that had been unearthed.

“Actually, yeah. More fries would be good.” With a nod, she watched him amble off. He didn’t even get to the kitchen, however, before she was calling out an answer to the question that had stumped her. And though she wasn’t explicitly saying things, she felt she was making herself pretty clear.

“I’m going to be honest, I actually really want to see the movie we were supposed to catch. Popcorn’s on me. Are you up for it?”

The question had stopped Ace in his tracks, and for the first time since Bess’ last series of texts, Nancy had a pretty clear understanding of where Ace’s mind was at. Maybe he’d given things a little more thought than her prior to that evening, but such a large jump was treading water territory for him too. And he was very clearly taking all of his cues from her, allowing her the space to process the set-up in her own time.

Somehow the realization just made her more confident in her choice. Sure, making that jump was scary, but when had Nancy ever shied away from things that scared her?

“I think we’d miss the movie if we waited for the fries,” Ace pointed out, Nancy not even waiting before jumping in with an easy “No fries then. Let’s go.”

Lukewarm fries in the trash, lights off, doors locked, and a definite nervous energy in the air, they were on their way to the movies in minutes.

But there was one thing that Ace decided to make clear before they were even halfway there.

“I didn’t ask her to do this, by the way. I don’t know where it came from. But… I’m glad she did it,” he acknowledged, and it wasn’t until that very moment that Nancy knew what to say in response.

It was simple, really.

“Me too.”


End file.
